It Has Our John Hancock On It!

Camelot Homes

4 years ago

John Trumbull’s famous painting The Declaration of Independence

When J.W Hancock began building homes in the late 1950’s his goal wasn’t to be the biggest luxury home builder. He was simply doing what he loved with an unmatched sense of pride and a belief that his attention to detail would inevitably make for happy homeowners. In carrying out his goal of building quality homes, and passing that commitment for excellence on to his son Mark and his granddaughter Cameron, the family legacy lives on in Camelot Homes.

J.W. Hancock

Over the past 40 years, we have resisted the opportunities to sell out, mass produce and size up. Being locally owned and family run brings a level of accountability and pride not found in the national homebuilders. As a luxury leader we strive to consistently raise the bar and redefine our goals. We have spent decades creating a brand identity and we remain true to it. As Camelot homes’ owner Mark Hancock always says, “My name is on the door of every home we build.” His “John Hancock,” if you will…

With that being said, when it came time for Mark Hancock’s grandson Colton’s school report on family lineage, some interesting findings were made. We already knew of the lineage dating back to our founding fathers, but the resemblance is uncanny. Just for fun, we thought we would pass this along to our Camelot friends and fans:

A photographic illustration of the Hancock family lineage

Colton’s lineage traces back to our country’s famous signer of a The Declaration of Independence, John Hancock. They both share a grandfather, Nathaniel “The Immigrant” Hancock who was born in Padiham, England on October 3, 1596 and later immigrated to Cambridge, Mass. He is Colton’s 9th great grandfather and John Hancock’s Great Great Grandfather.

Nathaniel married Jane in 1633 and they had three children: Nathaniel Jr. (1638) who was John Hancock’s Great Grandfather, Thomas (1647) who is Colton’s 8th Great Grandfather and Ann (1650).

Nathaniel Jr married Mary Prentis and they had a son John who grew up to become The Reverend John Hancock. He married Elizabeth and they had a son, The Rev John Hancock II who fathered John Hancock, the signer of our Declaration of Independence. Reverend John II died when John was only 7 and his mother Mary had very little money and two other children to raise so she sent John to live with his Uncle Thomas who was the most wealthy man in Boston and ran The House of Hancock which was a Mercantile Company. Uncle Thomas Hancock and his wife had no children so they adopted John who eventually inherited his Uncle’s money which allowed him to go into politics. John never married nor had any children so our family line is the only remaining line. Thus, John Hancock, the signer of the Declaration of Independence is a direct cousin to Colton Hancock.

Now to trace Colton specifically, his mother is Cameron Hancock (1975), his Grandfather is John Mark Hancock (1953), his Great Grandfather is John William Wesphal Hancock (1910) his Great Great Grandfather is John Lyman Hancock (1883), his Great x3 Grandfather is Mosiah Lyman Hancock (1834). His Great x4 Grandfather is Levi Ward Hancock (1803) one of the original founders of the Mormon Church and good friends with Joseph Smith. His Great x5 is Thomas Hancock III (1763) his Great x6 is Thomas Hancock (1727) his Great x7 is John Hancock (1687) his Great x8 is Thomas Hancock (1647) and his Great x9 is Nathaniel (1596), who was John Hancock’s Great Great Grandfather. So we can trace Colton’s lineage over 418 years and 10 generations back to the founding of our country. Thomas III (1763) was one of three Hancock brothers who fought in the revolutionary war. His older two brothers were killed and his mother pleaded with George Washington to honorably release her only remaining son, which he did. So thanks to George Washington, Colton is here today! Pretty wonderful historical story in this day and age!

Colton and Braden Hancock- Beckert

So when we say that Mark Hancock’s “John Hancock” is on the door of every home we build, we are not kidding!